Dior’s Bold Runway Eyeliner Is a Feminist Battle Cry

Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri continues to fight the good fight. Inspired by France’s women’s liberation movement which began during the revolt in May of 1968, Chiuri staged a patriarchy-toppling protest of her own for the fashion house’s Fall 2018 show. Inside the Musée Rodin show space, the Technicolor walls were plastered with tear sheets from Parisian feminist newspaper La Voix des Femmes and vintage copies of fashion magazines such as Vogue, as well as pointed, powerful statements like “women’s rights are human rights.” And while the aforementioned message registered loud and clear in the clothes with slogan-emblazoned sweaters (C’est non, non, non, et non!), envelope-pushing silhouettes, and patchwork prints reminiscent of youthquake demonstrators, above the neck, each graphic gaze was its own beauty battle cry.

Behind their retro-leaning plastic sunglasses, the models in the lineup—including Ruth Bell, Lineisy Montero, and Ninouk Akkerman—received thick, color-coordinated-to-their-shades slashes of liner in matte hues of pink, burgundy, and yellow on the upper and lower lash lines, courtesy of the forthcoming Diorshow On Stage Liners. “I didn’t want makeup that was too pretty,” explained makeup artist Peter Philips backstage, drawing the lines so that they ended just before the inner and outer corner of the eyes to subversive effect. “The blunt liner is cool and conceptual, but not [too] precious. You can say what you have to say and be taken seriously, but also show that you have fun with [your makeup] and enjoying being a creative woman.” Pared back with beautiful bare skin and curled lashes, the statement eyes hit just the right note: bold, but not too bold; perfect, but not too perfect as to take time or attention away from Chiuri’s supercharged call to action.